


A Rock and a Hard Place

by sm_a_rt



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alpha Dave Katz, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Damsels in Distress, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Omega Klaus Hargreeves, Past Drug Use, Period Typical Attitudes, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Talking To Dead People, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 17:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18674227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sm_a_rt/pseuds/sm_a_rt
Summary: Klaus finds himself in 1968 Vietnam surrounded by alphas. One takes him under his wing, teaching the omega to be a soldier. Klaus takes refuge in this alpha, and suddenly, he's rewriting history.





	A Rock and a Hard Place

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of ideas for this story, and some might be "Dead Dove: Do not Eat" material. If you're still interested in this work, please continue and be sure to leave me some feedback!

It was a miracle Klaus was able to gain the attention of Eudora from outside the motel room, the only downside was it left him with a major headache and blood trickling down the side of his face. The smell of distressed omega was masked by a super strength buffer those time traveling assassins, Hazel and Cha-Cha, used. She wouldn’t have found him otherwise. 

He wondered how many other times they’ve had to use them before; on how many other poor, scared omegas did they torture by refusing them to be heard or smelt? He couldn’t think of that for long, for now he was more concerned with the familiar face of the cop slicing apart the ropes he was bound with. He moaned as each of the threads painfully snapped off of him and rubbed against is sore, aching skin. Finally, she removed the tape around his mouth, the adhesive tugging at his facial hair.

“Eudora,” Klaus groaned, his throat sore but voice urgent, “there’s two of them in the bathroom.”

Eudora paused and glanced at the corner of the room where a light shone through the bottom of the bathroom door. She looked back and gave Klaus a sympathetic and weak nod, drawing her gun from her belt, cocking it to make sure it was loaded before stepping in front of him in a protective stance. She smelled calm, despite the situation, like leather and lipstick. She was the definition of a pure alpha. It was then that the door to the bathroom flung open and Hazel drew his weapon, causing Klaus to jump for safety, landing on the floor of the motel, his body blocked by the bed frame beside him. Eudora fired two warning shots, causing the man to duck back into the side room.

“Police! Drop the gun or you’re going down!” Eudora demanded, her alpha voice strong and unwavering as she slowly neared her assailants. 

From the bathroom, an arm peaked out attached to no visible body, and the voice of the large male assassin calmly spoke and complied with the cop. The gun that was once clenched in his hand was dropped to the floor, and Eudora let out a satisfied grunt. Klaus found it odd only one of the assassins gave up their weapons, but had no time or mental capacity to mention it to Eudora or even put two and two together. Instead, his vision blurred and twisted around a vent that he found in front of him in his planked position. Tilting his head and squinting his eyes, trying to ignore the fact that his head felt like it had just gone through a washing machine, he noticed that the vent was only hanging on by a screw. 

“Hands behind your head, asshole.” Eudora demanded, similar to the first time yet now a little less aggressive.

Klaus couldn’t see Hazel step out of the bathroom, but he could feel the ground vibrate with his footsteps and hear the floor groan with his mass. The assassin was built like a hefty alpha, yet in the entire time Klaus was held prisoner, he could never get a scent. He couldn’t scent Cha-Cha either. He had no time to worry about the mysterious lack of characteristics, as the world faded away around him and the only thing that mattered was his nimble fingers unscrewing the vent and carefully pushing the cover to the side and under the bed. There’s a briefcase. 

“Okay, just don’t shoot,” Hazel’s voice was calm and it was almost sickening to hear.

For a moment there was silence, and Klaus was almost tempted to check and see if the whole situation had been dealt with, but it didn’t feel right. Eudora’s scent shifted, her previous bravito now turning to the putrid scent of melted plastic and uneasiness. He grabbed the briefcase from his position in the vent and pushed it forward to bring it along with him, deeper into his escape route; it was now or never, and Klaus didn’t want never. 

As he slithered his body through the vent and past the first turn, the pulsating echo of a gunshot rang through the metal maze and into Klaus’s ears forcing a devastated gawk to escape his lips.

He didn’t need to see the scene to know exactly what happened. Too occupied with Hazel, Eudora neglected the second and even more dangerous threat. Klaus could feel his heart clench as tears ran down his face like burning, melted wax. His body went tense and numb and for a minute he couldn’t move from the shock. Eudora, his brother’s beloved, was dead, and Klaus hated death. A sympathetic pain shot through his body as if his mind was telling him he should’ve been the sacrifice and not her. She didn’t deserve to die, Klaus did. Klaus knew this. 

“Hazel,” The stern voice of Cha-Cha broke him from his guilt. He needed to get out of there.

So he did. He maneuvered his way through the motel’s vents and eventually found himself hopping out of the one in the check-in room, covered in blood and only dawning a towel. The beta at the counter gave him a once over, then went back to reading his newspaper, unphased by the scene. Klaus, briefcase gripped between his skinny arms, ran through the front door, the little bell at the top announcing his departure. Bare feet carried Klaus down the road as he found himself running towards the nearest bus stop.

He wasn’t quite sure when he got on the bus and how far he had been riding it when he finally came out of his shock. His eyes glazed over the scene of the mostly empty bus, admiring the familiarity. It didn’t smell like blood. That was a big improvement from his previous environment. A giggle clawed out his throat, twisting it’s way out into the world in a cruel, cruel ironic fashion. Everything was cruel, everything was pained. He gave a wink to the woman sitting across from him.

“Please be money, please be money,” he pleaded, his attention hazing around the briefcase. His fingers worked there ways, prying at the bag. Money could buy drugs, he thought. Drugs could stop the pain, he thought. He paused. 

Eudora stared blankly at him in the reflection of the bus windows, her figure fading into the backgrounds and street lamps that the bus passed. She gave him a pitiful look, and Klaus could tell she was disappointed. His heart ached and he let another painful tear roll down his cheek as his head collapsed into the briefcase, refusing to make eye contact with the spirit. She looked so alive, so real, yet the hole in her chest bore proof that she was in fact dead, and Klaus... hated death.

He looked back up to find her figure gone, but her presence was still thick in the air. Klaus shook his head as if to say no, as if to stop himself from unlatching that final golden bracket of the briefcase-- but Klaus could not. The briefcase swung open with a force Klaus was unprepared for, a blue light blinding him before he was sucked through the baggage. His body felt weightless for a moment, an almost euphoric sensation as he drifted aimlessly and blind through this portal. He had no idea where he was going, but he was going, and the next thing he knew, he fell.

The first thing he noticed was the overwhelming stench of alpha. Then, the pungent odor of mud, gunpowder, and blood. It wrung through his nose and out his mouth, leaving a souring flavor to bite his tongue. The light that once blinded him was now gone, his eyes slowly adjusted to his surroundings. The little colorful dots danced around his vision a couple seconds longer, only then to disappear, revealing the face of a very confused curly-haired alpha. He gripped the briefcase that landed in his lap a little tighter.

“Who?” Klaus wanted to ask, tilting his head like a lost dog. However, his words were interrupted by the booming sound of an explosion right outside their tent. Tent? Yes, Klaus had now determined there were in a tent. 

Men in camouflage began swinging pack-sacks over their shoulders, grabbing their vests and running towards the entrance. The alpha whom he locked eyes with seemed indifferent to the sound and commotion, instead he remained transfixed on the gangly, bloodied omega. Klaus took note of the dog tags that hung loosely around his neck. He was in a warzone. Another boom ricocheted through the camp, the commanding officer just now noticing the tardiness of one of his soldiers.

Then he noticed the acidic smell of distressed omega.

“Get your clothes on Katz, no time to get pretty!” He directed at the curly-haired alpha, short and snappy, his alpha voice growling through his clenched teeth. He then turned his attention to Klaus, now very much aware of the situation he was in and desperately trying to plead to the commander that he was not meant to be there. The commander huffed, “How in the world did an ome’ get into camp?”

The soldier shrugged on a shirt and stood from his bed, grabbing his small sack of things and hoisting it over his shoulder. Dave didn’t respond to the commander’s question and Klaus could tell the older alpha was pissed at that. For a moment the commander thought about what to do, the shouts of soldiers outside the tent were urgent and even Klaus knew that they didn’t have enough time to debate this.

The next thing Klaus knew was that the strong, calloused hands of “Katz” pulled him up on his bed from under his shoulders with a power and swiftness Klaus was not expecting. Pants were pulled over his legs, many sizes too large, and a vest was shucked around his arms. The commander seemed satisfied with his soldier’s executive decision and left the tent, telling them to hurry.

“Can you walk?” Katz asked, but all Klaus could do was stare in disbelief. He was terribly awake and sober right now, and all he wanted to do was vomit. Gunfire erupted from some place in the surrounding area and Klaus had no time to even begin to formulate a response before the alpha swung his lithe body over his shoulder, stabilizing him with a hand on his thigh.

“Wait!” Klaus exclaimed before the two of them had the chance to escape the gunfire that grew ever closer, “I need my briefcase.”

Katz looked back from where he was running, spotting the case sat on the floor near his bed amongst the various other bags and items the squadrine left behind. He then looked outside the tent, spotting the military truck being loaded with his members. He had to hurry. The alpha ran back and grabbed the case, only to then make a break for it. 

“Katz! Get your ass in here or you’re going to hear for it later, you hear me, boy?” The commander growled as Katz neared the bus. The minute his boot hit the first step, the driver, another soldier, floored it, racing bullets away into the forest. There was a moment where Klaus was able to catch his breath, hearing the sounds of gunfire wash away under the steady hum of the truck engine, but that's all it was. A moment. Before he knew it, Katz had carried him to the back of the vehicle and sat him down on the worn seats, his head adjusting to the sudden change in perspective.

The briefcase hid under Klaus’s seat.

The other soldiers gave quizzical glances back towards Katz and Klaus. Katz went pale. His hands gripped the leather seat he sat on and his mind frantically searched for an excuse for what he just did. Klaus… Klaus just looked like hell. Covered in blood and dirt and sweat, the omega shivered despite the heat. He was so awake, yet he felt like he was in a dream. No, a nightmare would better describe this. Klaus looked over at Katz, and Katz looked over at Klaus. Then the two made unbearable eye contact with the commanding officer.

The rough, older-looking alpha opened his mouth to speak, but his words were replaced by the sound of a different voice, “Commander Adams, sir. I found this omega outside our base late last night while I was on watch. He explained that he works for the Department of Defense and was temporarily on base here to meet up with other strategizers on site.”

Katz paused to take his breath and Klaus looked over at him in disbelief. He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt pull in his chest-- he probably majorly messed up this dude’s life out here.

“Told me his guard was taken out in some ditch in A Shau and he was captured for information by the congs. Tortured him for a day before he was able to escape. Should’ve told you when I found him, sir. It was just so late, sir, I wanted him to rest.”

A pause. All the soldiers previously looking towards Katz shifted their heads, nearly in unison, over to Commander Adams. The story was believable, plausible even. Katz shifted in his seat, his eyes staring towards his commander as well. Klaus? Klaus couldn’t keep his eyes of the alpha who took him.

The commander’s voice spoke up, “Omega,” he paused, catching Klaus’s attention and getting on one knee, placing his hand over his heart as a sign of respect, “I apologize for my voice. I am Commander Adams, we will do our best to care for you until we can get you to a safe base.”

Klaus hadn’t seen anyone kneel for an omega since he was a kid. It was old fashioned, and with new omega rights movements popping up in New York and most of America, many people started to abandon old cultural stereotypes. Speaking of stereotypes, Klaus wondered since when did the military go back to only deploying alphas? Nevertheless, the squadrine of alphas seemed content with the Commander’s decision, and all gave Klaus a fond smile and nod before they went on to talking.

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Klaus no longer picked up on the scent of distress. Now, waves of smells of content and happy alphas invaded his nose, and he took it all in. One scent in particular was most prominent in the bus. The scent of citrus, summer, and relief.

“Dave.” The alpha said, extending a hand for Klaus to shake. His voice was softer with him than when he talked to his commander. Soft and comfortable, and Klaus enveloped himself in it.

“Klaus,” He responded, following through with the gesture, “Thanks for… that.” 

Katz, or who he now knew as Dave, chuckled lowly, his head cocking down only for his blue eyes to peek back up at Klaus. Klaus knew he must’ve looked like a mess, so then why was Dave smiling? Why was he laughing? Klaus could feel his face turn red.

“Why did you cover for me? You don’t even know who I am,” Klaus asked mellowly, concerned for the alpha’s reputation in his squadrine, “Why would you cover for an omega that came out of nowhere? Why would you do that?”

Dave sighed, unsure of what to say. Unsure of what even happened in the past ten minutes. He had a million questions for this omega and instead, here he was having to answer Klaus’s questions.

“I’m a soldier. I save lives, I don’t leave people behind,” He answered, “It wouldn’t have mattered had I known you or not. I wasn’t leaving any man, any omega behind.”

Klaus hummed, understanding. For a minute, he took the time to look out of the truck’s windows, watching as trees swept passed his vision and songs of birds filled his ears. When had he forgotten how sore he was? When had he forgotten what had just happened not an hour ago? His mind raced with questions and instinctively he reached a hand out and placed it on the alpha’s knee.

“Where are we?” Klaus asked timidly.

“Haven’t left the valley yet. Think we’re heading to a temporary camp in a nearby village, but we might be on the bus for a while. We’ll get you back in no time, promise.”

Dave reached down to where Klaus’s hand rested on his knee and gave it a couple reassuring pats before settling there. It wasn’t a gesture made out of romance or interest, merely solidarity and comfort, and Klaus needed that right now. Another silence befell them before Dave spoke again.

“You know, when you appeared in the tent I saw a flash of light. Might’ve been the glare of a flashlight, but for a moment I thought you were an angel.” 

Klaus giggled bitterly, giving Dave a look of questioning disbelief, “Well, hate to break it to you,” Klaus gestured down at his broken body, draped with the oversized clothes of who knew what soldier, “I am certainly no angel.”

Dave smiled a painful smile at Klaus, eyes crinkled and genuine, “None of us are.”

Trees fled past them in their moving truck and vegetation crowded them like a growing mob. Klaus thought back to the room. To the torture. To Eudora. How had he gotten so far away? How had this briefcase carried him so far? He kicked under his seat to make sure the box was still there. He wasn’t sure if he’d feel better with or without it, but he kicked it, and it was there.

A Shau Valley. That's where he was.

“Where are we?” Klaus asked again desperately. He didn’t believe in anything. He wasn’t sure of anything. Not at this point, anyway, and a sinking feeling kept growing in his stomach, twisting its way up into his brain telling him something is wrong! Something is wrong!

“You really aren’t from around here, huh?” Dave retorted, his hand rubbing circles into Klaus’s knuckles with his calloused fingers. Klaus’s heart found it’s normal rhythm again.

“I think…” Klaus paused to actually think, “I think I’m very, very far from home”


End file.
